Peppermint Bizmoto’s agreement with the Philippines’ largest regional cooperative will allow the company to offer its electronic money services to more than 1.6 million members.

Fintech company Peppermint Innovation (ASX:PIL) has further expanded its reach in the Philippines through a 5-year exclusive agreement with the country’s largest regional cooperative federation, MASS-SPECC Cooperative Development Center.

The deal, which was done through PIL’s 100% subsidiary Peppermint Bizmoto Inc, will allow MASS-SPECC’s 1.6 million users to use Bizmoto’s Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) financial services.

The deal follows MASS-SPECC’s launch of its own digital transformation program via their PinoyCoop App.

Members accessing that App will now have access to  EMI financial services such as transferring money from a co-op member’s Bizmoto wallet to another bank account via InstaPay or PESONet.

Additionally, Bizmoto’s EMI financial services will provide a convenient and safe means of completing ‘cash-in’ and ‘cash-out’ transactions outside of MASS-SPECC’s Automatic Teller Machines (ATM).

Transactions done on MASS-SPECC’s ATM network is huge, and  in 2021 alone, ATM cash-outs accounted for almost two million transactions or an average of 166,000 transactions per month.

Those two million transactions were attributed to only around 380,000 ATM card holding members out of MASS-SPECC’s 1.6 million individual members.

The deal today also provides other benefits to MASS-SPECC co-op members.

These include being able to access Bizmoto e-wallet financial services like bills payment, including the collection of payment for local billers, electronic load and the release and collection of co-op loans.

“This MASS-SPECC agreement is incredibly significant as it represents the first deal that Peppermint Bizmoto has signed since being awarded its EMI license in May 2022 by the Central Bank of the Philippines,” said PIL CEO, Chris Kain.

 

Significant opportunity as MASS-SPECC goes digital

MASS-SPECC is the oldest and largest regional cooperative federation in the Philippines, with more than 1.6 million individual members, representing 335-member cooperatives.

As part of its digital transformation program, MASS-SPECC aims to onboard around 480,000 members and more than 100 of its 335-member cooperatives in the first 12 months.

“Further growth is forecast in the second and subsequent years, creating a significant opportunity to provide all new cooperative members with the ability to access Bizmoto’s EMI financial service,” said Kain.

Kain said that through this deal, PIL will be able to demonstrate the considerable range of opportunities Bizmoto can provide under its EMI license, as well as offering MASS-SPECC’s members other financial services such as micro loans, micro insurance and micro health benefits.

“In addition, we are also collaborating with MASS-SPECC to identify how Bizmoto can offer co-op products and services across our expanding ecosystem, specifically via our bizmoTinda and bizmoGo digital offering.”

MASS-SPECC’s rapid onboarding to the digital realm means there could be significant opportunities for PIL going forward.

MASS-SPECC CEO Bernadette O. Toledo said:  “We expect to onboard at least 30% of MASS-SPECC co-ops and members in our first year, and we will continue to work on the digital onboarding of the rest of the member co-ops who are still in the process of becoming part of the MASS-SPECC digital system.”

 

More options for Bizmoto, too

Toledo also confirmed that MAS-SPECC and Bizmoto are in talks to work together on promoting co-op products and services through the Bizmoto Digital Community, which aims to build a particular network under the BizmoTinda and BizmoGo digital services.

“MASS-SPECC is optimistic this partnership with Peppermint Bizmoto will ultimately contribute to the realisation of the cooperative movement’s vision, that ‘All Members Enjoy a Better Quality of Life,” she said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Peppermint will receive an integration payment of circa $40k and earn on-going fees on a revenue share basis for each transaction, dependent on the service performed, which at this stage cannot be quantified in terms of materiality.

The 5-year agreement renews on the same terms on an annual basis, unless six months’ notice is given prior to the renewal date.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Peppermint Innovation, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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